Hospital eyes Destrehan for after-hours center

LULING – St. Charles Parish Hospital is in discussions with "The Prince’s Foundation for Building Community" to locate a new primary and advanced after-hours care center on property adjacent to Destrehan Plantation.

The site is within a 165-acre area being designed as a new "Town Center" to anchor a larger legacy plan to enhance and protect the wetlands of a 1,400-acre tract of land between River Road and Highway 61.

If voters approve the proposal on the April 21 ballot, St. Charles Parish Hospital plans to build a new facility on the East Bank. That facility will provide adult primary care, obstetrics and gynecology and pediatrics. After normal hours, the facility will offer advanced after-hours medical care so that parish residents on the East Bank can easily access such services without crossing the Mississippi River.

The hospital is exploring the opportunity to partner with the Ochsner Health System to provide some of the services at the new facility.

The Prince’s Foundation was established in 1986 to encourage the principles of traditional urban design and architecture by putting people and communities in the center of the design process.

The plan will incorporate ideas from stakeholders in the community including civic organizations such as Destrehan Plantation and local philanthropic, environmental and economic development agencies. Proposed concept plans for phase one also encompass a retail marketplace, a business incubator and distribution hub, a corporate innovation quarter and residential development with a range of housing types that reflect local architecture.

"A recent study by Peak Performance Physicians, LLC indicated that our parish needs more primary care doctors and the citizens have requested after-hours care on the East Bank for a number of years," Federico Martinez, CEO of St. Charles Parish Hospital, said. "By building this new facility and expanding services we are meeting the needs of our community."